Searching for Trolls
by JoinTheDarkSide
Summary: Hiccup decided to go searching for trolls, but instead found himself a winter spirit.


**Hey guys, sorry I haven't posted anything for about a year, but the closest thing to an excuse would be I was busy. Well anyway, enjoy yourselves, ends on a pretty sad note though I'm warning you now.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own How to Train Your Dragon nor Rise of the Guardians, those two belong to Dreaworks and Cressida Cowell.**

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Hiccup had only been 4 when he first decided to go looking for trolls. He knew about them stealing his socks, Gobber had told him all about it. It was only now that he had gathered enough courage to find and confront them. Maybe, if they had good reason for it, he would come to a compromise with them over his socks. After all, it would not do to only have right or left socks, and the winters here were freezing, literally.

It was a cold spring morning; summer was just around the corner and the snow had settled into the ground. His dad had decided to take him fishing that day, as a father-son bonding thing. Hiccup was more interested in finding the trolls. He had brought the wooden sword his father had gifted him to practice with last equinox. He tried to bring a shield with him, but they were all too large for him to carry.

Bravely he set off, leaving the stream and his chattering father behind, venturing deep into the surrounding woods. He had been walking a while and had gotten a little tired, maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all, when he stumbled across a strange sight.

A white-haired boy was sitting on a large rock facing away from Hiccup. Every now and then, the wind would upset loose snow that would swirl around him creating a glowing halo of sunlight and water crystals.

Hiccup was curious; maybe this stranger would know where to find the trolls. It was better than just walking around aimlessly.

As he drew closer, Hiccup noticed that this person seemed to be smaller than most of the adults in Berk, but he was still way taller than Hiccup was. There was also a weird looking stick leaning against the opposite side of the rock. It looked like a hook. He giggled to himself; something about it just struck him as funny.

Despite all the noise Hiccup was making, the boy did not seem to notice him. He kept looking up at the sky, thinking, or maybe he was just enjoying the sunshine. Hiccup could feel the warmth of the sun's rays as he stood next to the rock.

Hiccup tugged on the brown cloak the boy was wearing, it didn't look very warm, there was even frost lining it. The boy jumped violently, startled, and fell off the rock in a flurry of snow. He slowly popped up until all Hiccup could see were his eyes.

When Jack peeped over the rock he was previously sitting on, he saw a short kid. Brown hair, dark green eyes and freckles; he was wearing a Viking helmet that was too large for him and was bundled up against the cold. The poor kid looked so sorry he had startled Jack it seemed as though he was about to cry.

Jack leapt over the rock startling the kid even further. His face scrunched up, and his eyes glazed over with unshed tears. Jack hadn't encountered much children, especially any that could see him, so he wasn't really sure how to deal with this kid in front of him. In a slight panic, he did the only thing he could think of to cheer him up

"No, no don't cry. Hey, kid, look." He said, palm stretched out.

The boy looked down, and saw a bunny made of snow leaping around the circle of the white haired boy's hands. His eyes widened and for a moment, Jack thought he had succeeded. That is, until the boy started wailing and screaming running away from him in what seemed to be fear.

Really panicking now, Jack raced after the boy picking him up and cradling the struggling boy close to his chest. It wasn't long before the boy started to calm down, and realise that nothing had happened yet. Eyes wide he looked up at the white-haired boy holding him, clearly out of his comfort zone and who obviously had no idea what he was doing, and he giggled. Something about this boy's panic was hilarious.

Jack looked down when he heard a giggle coming from his young charge.

"You're a cruel little thing aren't you, what's so funny about this huh kid?"

Hiccup just continued to laugh, "You're a funny Frost Giant," his words bubbled out between his laughter, "you're supposed to kidnap me and eat me, you're also really small for a Frost Giant."

Jack was treated to a curious and assessing gaze.

"Why thank you, my name is Jack Frost," He declared, a swirl of snow swept around the two of them accompanied by leaping foxes and snow bunnies. Once again the boy gasped in fear, his eyes wide and questioning.

"Are you here to bring ruin to our village? You don't have to you know, the dragons are doing that without your help." He quickly stumbled over his words "You could have me in exchange for leaving our village alone, I'm smart, I could - I could" He paused as tears slowly filled his eyes "I'm sure you could find a use for me, I mean, if-if you needed me to make stuff or I could keep your house clean, I could do that." He sniffled.

"Whoa whoa whoa. I think you have the wrong person here kid. I am nothing like that. I don't go around kidnapping people and destroying villages. That isn't me; I just bring the snow and have fun, and try to get people to see me." The torrent of words flew from his mouth, shocked and a little worried "Is that really how people see me?"

"That's what my daddy told me. He said that winter is really dangerous because that was when you came out looking for bad children to devour."

"Well, rest easy kid, I am nothing like that." Thinking quickly, he sought a way to reassure the child in his arms. "Hey, wanna go on an adventure instead?"

Suddenly reminded of his original goal, Hiccup lit up and faced the older boy in excitement." Do you know where to find the trolls?"

"Well, no not really." He hesitantly said, but backtracked quickly when he saw the boys face fall. "I might, however, know a place where they hang out a lot."

The boy wriggled out of his arms in excitement and loudly asked him to show the way. It was only as he ran off that Jack realised he didn't know the kid's name. Standing proudly in the middle of the clearing, the boy declared "My name is Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the third son of Stoick the Vast hear his name and tremble, ugh ugh!"

He looked so proud especially when he said his father's name, which, of course, was when a pile of snow patiently sitting along the length of a branch decided to dump itself right on top of the poor boy.

Jack ran forward and dug him out of the snow pile and pulled Hiccup out, all the while, the boy was giggling and squirming in his hold. Once he was safely on the ground, Hiccup grabbed the hem of Jack's clothes and tugged.

"Come on, let's go find the trolls!" He exclaimed, his enthusiasm not dampened by the incident nor the shock. He had a goal and he was going to fulfil it.

The rest of the day was spent trampling through rivers and struggling over hills, until they reached a cave deep in the woods. It was dark and it smelt funny, but Hiccup trusted Jack and if this is where he said the trolls might be, then that was where he could find trolls. (Even if the cave was dark and scary and he was sure trolls lived in dry hollow trees.)

The two of them ventured in, Hiccup's hand clutching Jack's tightly as the darkness surrounded them. The further they went in, the stronger the fishy smell became. Hiccup buried his nose into Jack's clothes, which strangely enough smelled like, for a lack of a better word, frost. He was so distracted that he didn't realise when the darkness started gaining a menacing edge. He didn't realise when Jack had stopped moving and had lifted his staff in a defensive position. He didn't realise that he should have been scared out of his mind.

So when a loud growl came from deeper within the cave, all he could do was jump before he was swept off his feet. Jack ran as fast as his legs would take him carrying Hiccup tucked under one arm with his staff in the other. They didn't stop for quite some time until they reached a river and had crossed it.

"Was that a dragon?" A small voice peeped from within Jack's hold.

Hiccup was wide-eyed with fear and a little curiosity. He had seen dragons, but he didn't know any of them lived anywhere near his village, in fact, he had been sure that his dad had told him that they came from across the sea. Which brought up the question, why hadn't it chased after them? What he knew of dragons painted them as ruthless and cruel beings that would chase you down and kill you if you were even close enough to hear them roar.

Jack carefully placed Hiccup on the ground, and it took them some time before realising that, well, they were lost. It wasn't that much of a surprise with all the running they, no Jack, had done, but it was getting dark and Stoick would definitely have noticed his son was missing by now. Hiccup was getting worried, he was tired and hungry and they hadn't found any trolls yet. He wanted to go home and immerse himself in the warmth and safety of his father's arms, but at the same time he didn't want to say goodbye to his new friend.

Without saying a word, Jack leapt up into the nearest tree in the hopes of seeing the village from atop it. Unfortunately, this startled Hiccup and in doing so caused him to lose his balance and fall into the river.

Jack, already too high up the tree to hear anything didn't notice anything amiss. He managed to see the general direction the village was in and took his time climbing back down. Then a gurgled scream reached his ears and eyes wide, he jumped back down just in time to see Hiccup being swept further downstream.

Leaping from branch to branch, Jack managed to overtake Hiccup. He braced himself on a sturdy looking branch. Using his staff, he hooked the end around Hiccup's waist and jerked him out of the water. Safely back in his arms, Hiccup was shivering heavily. His lips were blue and his teeth chattering.

Having no idea how well it would work, Jack took off his own cloak and wrapped it around him, hoping that somehow, it would warm the small boy. He clambered off the branch and started running for the village.

By the time he reached it, night had fallen and Hiccup had become still. Heart beating rapidly, Jack ran to the largest building. There, he gently placed Hiccup in front of the door before creating snowballs and throwing them as hard as he could. The soft thuds echoed through the house and he heard on the other side rapid footsteps.

When the door opened, he saw a huge hulk of a man with red hair seemingly bursting from his face. The man looked around with a kind of quiet desperation. It took a while before he decided to look down and when he did, he let out a strangled cry. From behind, a man of similar stature, but with blonde hair appeared. The red haired man picked up Hiccup and cradled him in his large arms. There, he looked tiny, delicate, and a sudden realisation came over Jack that the first person to see him since he could first remember could have just died.

The two men lumbered back into the house. Jack peeked in and saw them swaddle Hiccup with layers and layers of fur blankets and rested him in front of a roaring fire. Reassured that Hiccup would be taken care of, Jack walked off into the night.

He eventually realised that he no longer had his cloak, but a quick snap of his fingers fixed that, and he swore to himself that he would never come back. That he would leave the kid to grow up and he would not endanger him by contacting him again. Perhaps it was better this way, perhaps the reason why he could not be seen was because it was a punishment. Either way, he would continue to bring snow and ice to wherever the wind took him, and he would continue to bring joy to the children, but this was one child he wouldn't again meet.

Unbeknownst to him, the cloak would later be used as a blanket by the same child. Jack Frost would not be forgotten until several years later, where an outcast Hiccup would attempt to 'grow up' and forget all 'imaginary' friends in an attempt to re-enter society. His memories grew weaker and eventually faded as did his belief in childhood tales. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third would never again meet Jack Frost, whether he wanted to or not.

But in the process, he did meet new friends of a similar nature, to be specific, he befriended a dragon. This friend would be there for the rest of his remaining life and would be a steadfast ad true companion. The two would go through many adventures fighting off Romans and saving their friends, eventually, Hiccup would take over the leadership passed down to him from father to son, and he too would pass down his position to his son.

Jack on the other hand would remember Hiccup for a much longer time than Hiccup would remember him, but by the time his resolve broke, Hiccup no longer believed. His only saving grace; that he could still bring joy to the child he once knew on a cold spring day.

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**Well I hope you enjoyed that, don't be afraid to point out any mistakes and Reviews are always welcome. Also, I imagine this to be set before he found out kids could see him only if they believed. Hiccup believed in the myth of Jack Frost (or Jokul Frosti, I did research praise me) who, according to his father, would eat him up if he misbehaved, as well as the general myth of Frost Giants and thus I reckon would have been able to see winter spirits in general.**


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